Creating a en-kissing of trees happens when two branches or trunks rub against each other, grow and fuse. It’s termed inosculation (From the Latin ‘osculare’, to kiss). Like species will en-kiss well. As nearly all hedgerows around the HoBB Gardens are ‘pleatched’ i.e. cut and laid to form a barrier to cattle and sheep, many branches and tree trunks rub together and become fused/en-kissed.

This group of hazel trees (see picture) was saved from the pleatcher’s cut and by holding the stems together they have formed a woven ‘basket’ making a fine silvery feature in winter.

Some plants react favourably to this sort of manipulation and if you are keen to track down some extremes, look up references to the work of Axel Erlandson and his curiously ornamental ‘circus trees’ in America which were sold to Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy, where today “they continue to amaze and thrive.”

‘Man-made’ circus trees, landscapes and gardens are most beautiful when they arise from a deep understanding of Nature. At the HoBB Gardens our land and water stewardship method is to persuade and stimulate Nature rather than overpower and exploit her. The HoBBian circus trees have happened in a more unplanned way as previous farmer-gardeners have put plants to practical use like hedging and boundary marking. Gradually, we are supplementing these past plantings as we enjoy our role as one link in a continuous chain of evolving growth.

“It is Grant’s spirit of approach to design that creates greater beauty where Nature itself grows.”

I’ve been sitting too long today doing a set design project, so tomorrow I’ll get out into the cool 9 degrees C. and work off the extra few grams that are still lingering after a second helping of Christmas pudding before New Year’s Eve.

But before I meet tomorrow’s chill, here’s something a bit chilly from the book “The Development of the Theatre” by Allardyce Nicoll (3rd Edn. Pub. 1948 by George G. Harrap). It is a set design for a production of ‘Macbeth’ in New York and it looks strangely like the front freestanding part of my set design for a production of ‘Farndale Avenue … Macbeth’ at the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham which I’ve included at the base of this blog. It would be kinda spooky if I didn’t realise that ‘originality is merely undetected plagiarism’.